- Museum number
- 1992,0406.203.a
- Description
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The Cornhill Magazine. Vol. I. January to June 1860. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 65, Cornhill, 1860. London: Printed by Smith, Elder & Co., Little Green Arbour Court, E. C. vii, 760p. 12 plates. 1 fold-out map. (between pages 120-121). The fold-out map is entitled: ‘A chart showing the tracks of the Yacht Fox despatched by Lady Franklin under the command of Captn. McClintock, R. N. in search of H. M. Ships Erebus & Terror 1857 to 1859.’ Robin de Beaumont’s notes regarding the price of this copy are on the front pastedown and on a separate paper slip. On the paper slip he has written of this magazine: ‘ Publisher’s red morocco cloth original blind stamped, gilt titling to front covers and spines, some volumes partially unopened. Apart from a small snag to the spine of vol. 7 and vol. 14 with “vol. 4” [blocked on the] spine; a magnificent, bright set in quite exceptional condition and unfoxed. Individual volumes are common, but a run in this condition of its finest years is unusual.’ Each monthly issue (in paper wrappers) was accompanied by two illustrations. In this bound volume of six monthly issues there are twelve illustrations. The illustration opposite page 233 is after William Makepeace Thackeray, entitled: ‘Bessy’s spectacles’, which accompanies chapter two of his novel ‘Lovel the Widower’. It is signed: ‘Swain Sc’. The illustration opposite page 583 is after Thackeray, entitled: ‘Bedford to the rescue’, which accompanies chapter five of ‘Lovel the Widower’. It is signed: ‘Swain Sc’. In this volume, there are six illustrations after Thackeray, accompanying his novel ‘Lovel the Widower’. There are three illustrations after Millais, one accompanying Richard Monckton Milnes’s poem “Unspoken Dialogue”; and two accompanying Trollope’s novel “Framley Parsonage”. There is one illustration after George Augustus Sala, accompanying the article “William Hogarth”. There is one illustration after Frederick Sandys, accompanying the “legend of the Portent”.
Binding: Text sewn on three tapes. Yellow endpapers and pastedowns. Bookbinder’s ticket on upper pastedown: “/ Bound by/ Waterston & Johnston/ Booksellers/ No. 20 Bernard Street/ Leith/”. Binder ticket size: 22x11mm. Red morocco horizontal-grain cloth. Both covers are blocked identically in blind and in relief with the same design. The design is a copy of the one printed in the upper cover of each paper wrapper, which was after Godfrey Sykes, and engraved by William James Linton. This shows ornate decoration of urns, ribbons, accompanied by ‘platforms’, with four medallions, each of which has a figure within: the sower, the ploughman, the reaper and the thresher. The central rectangle has the title words: “/ The / Cornhill/ Magazine/” blocked in blind on the lower cover, and in gold on the upper cover. The spine has the same elaborate decoration as the covers. In a panel near the head, the title words: “/ The/ Cornhill/ Magazine/” blocked in gold. On the centre of the spine, within a medallion formed by two gold fillets and a ‘wave’ pattern, the word: “Vol I” is blocked in gold. Near the tail, the imprint: “/ London/ Smith Elder & Co/” is blocked in gold. At the head and the tail of the spine, the original form of the six issues, now bound together, can be clearly seen.
- Production date
- 1860
- Dimensions
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Height: 238 millimetres
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Thickness: 55 millimetres
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Width: 157 millimetres
- Curator's comments
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Pagination:
Vol. I. Jan to June, 1860
No. 1. Jan. 1860 pp. 1-128; 2 plates
No. 2 Feb. 1860 pp. 129-256; 2 plates
No. 3. March 1860 pp. 257-384; 2 Plates
No. 4. April 1860 pp. 385-512; 2 plates
No. 5. May 1860 pp. 513-640; 2 plates
No. 6 June 1860 pp.641-760; 2 plates
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Simon Cooke. Illustrated periodicals of the 1860s. London: The British Library, 2010.
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Simon Cooke. The Cornhill Magazine, George Smith and illustrators of ‘The Sixties’
http://www.victorianweb.org/periodicals/cornhill/cornhill1.html
‘[Smith] established his periodical in 1859 and issued number one in January 1860. Sold at a shilling and issued monthly, it was bound in limp yellow wraps with an image of sowing and reaping on its front cover; designed by Godfrey Sykes, the illustration punned on the magazine’s name while also suggesting its rich and promising contents in the form of four roundels contained within a Renaissance frame, rather like a coffered panel in an Italian palace. The front cover appealed to civilized values, and it had to impress: intended to rival Once a Week, which was first published by Bradbury and Evans in the middle of 1859 and sold at 3d, it needed to compete for readers. Once a Week was already taking a large share of the market when its competitor came onto the scene, and Smith’s magazine was always a risky venture.’
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Design of illustrations on paper wrappers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godfrey_Sykes
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Waterston & Johnston binders: https://scottishprintarchive.org/people/employers-organisations/society-master-printers-scotland-1964/
- Location
- Not on display
- Associated titles
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Associated Title: The Cornhill Magazine
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Associated Title: Lovel the Widower
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Associated Title: Framley Parsonage
- Acquisition date
- 1992
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1992,0406.203.a
